Monday, July 04, 2011

Most of the recent rumors about the upcoming next-generation iPhone have focused on September for its release, but a new DigiTimes report is pushing it out a month to October. However, iDevice fans might be appeased if another piece of the report is true: an iPad 3 coming at the same time.

We've said before that the iPad 2 was more of a stopgap, intermediate iPad, and that the iPad 3 would be the one that iPad 1 owners should wait for. DigiTimes' report is short on details about the iPad 3, but previously it's been speculated that the iPad 3 would have a "retina display."

However, DigiTimes indicates that the iPad 3 will have a 250ppi display, short of the iPhone 4's retina display, which is 326ppi, and short of the magic 300ppi number Apple CEO Steve Jobs used for the term, which has been called "marketing puffery."

If he wants to call it a retina display-based iPad, he's going to have to readjust his "sights."

On the other hand, the report indicates that the iPad 3 will be even thinner and lighter than the already remarkably thin and light iPad 2. DigiTimes also seems to dispel the latest rumors on two different iPhones being released this year, mentioning two devices only, and including in that the next-generation iPhone and the iPad 3.

It's still unclear if the iPhone will be an iPhone 4S, minimally changed externally, or an iPhone 5, with many changes. Interestingly, this week was the four-year anniversary of the original iPhone's initial sales date, while the iPhone 4, the most recent model, went on sale more than a year ago on June 24, 2010.